Alumni News and Moves - Winter 2018

Our alumni have forged diverse career paths and taken on interesting new adventures and personal challenges. They are thought leaders, industry experts, advisers, mentors, advocates, business executives, elected and appointed officials, and trusted professionals.

We are so proud of the contributions our alumni continue to make to the legal and business communities, grateful for the time they spent with the firm, and honored that so many have stayed in touch with the firm and each other.

Here are the latest news and moves from our alumni community over the past few months.

• Carla Pratt (Litigation associate; Philadelphia) was named the new dean of Washburn University School of Law. She will succeed the current dean, Thomas J. Romig, who will step down June 30. Carla served as a law professor and associate dean for academic affairs at Penn State’s Dickenson Law prior to taking on the new position.
• Riley Ross III (Litigation associate; Philadelphia) was appointed to serve as a Hearing Committee Member of the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania and, effective May 2018, will serve as a Chair of the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Civil and Equal Rights Committee. Riley is the owner of Ross Legal Practice in Philadelphia.
• Steve Shonder (Litigation associate; Chicago) and his band, The Ions, will be performing live on Thursday, March 8, at the Lawyers Rock event at Lincoln Hall, Chicago. The event runs from 6:00 – 10:00 p.m. If you are in the area, come on out and join the Ions as they “Rock out for Justice.”   Steven currently practices law at Law Offices of Steven S. Shonder in Chicago.
• John Hockenbury (Insurance partner; D.C.), Doug Mangel (Insurance partner; D.C.), Joe Bailey (Insurance counsel; D.C.), Alexander Karam (Insurance associate; D.C.), Janet McFadden (Insurance counsel; D.C.), Ingrid Smith (Insurance senior attorney; D.C.), Nena Mashaw (Insurance associate; D.C.) and Michelle Beecy (Insurance associate; D.C.) joined Clyde & Co. from Shipman and Goodwin LLP in February 2018.
• Jim Ackerman (Litigation associate; Florham Park) along with a partner recently acquired Unified Resources in Display, a Kenilworth, New Jersey, designer, manufacturer and distributor of permanent and semi-permanent point of purchase displays and merchandising solutions. Jim is now CEO of the company and also a Managing Member of Adurolux LLC, a company offering a complete service in energy-saving products. 
• Professor Tonya Evans (Private Client associate; Philadelphia) delivered an overview of blockchain technology, cryptocurrency and smart contracts at the law offices of Tilleke & Gibbons in Bangkok, Thailand, on January 31, 2018, and at the Annual Meeting of Licensing Executives Society (LES)-Thailand on February 1, 2018.  The presentation was intended to introduce attorneys of all practice areas to the essential information every lawyer should know about this emerging, global technology. Professor Evans was also a panelist on the Trusts & Estates section panel at the Association for American Law Schools Annual Meeting: “Historical and Empirical Evidence and the Law of Trusts and Estates: What Really Happened?” and presented her paper, “Statutory Heirs Apparent?: Reclaiming Copyright in the Age of Author-Controlled, Author-Benefiting Transfers,” 119 W. Va. L. Rev. 297 (2016).
• Scott Carroll (Labor and Employment associate; Florham Park) joined Global Container Terminals Inc. as Chief Human Resources Officer in 2018.
• Alan Cardenas (Corporate associate; Princeton) was featured in the January/February 2018 issue of Hispanic Executive magazine in an article titled: “Why Attorneys Must Prepare for Disruptive Technologies.” Since 2015, Alan has served on the Alumni Steering Committee of the Rutgers Law School Center for Corporate Law and Governance and was previously recognized as one of the 10 top lawyers in the U.S. under 40 years of age by the Hispanic National Bar Association. Alan is based in Iselin, New Jersey, and serves as Lead Counsel – Central Functions for Siemens (the 170-year-old, Germany-headquartered, manufacturing, engineering and technology company) in the U.S.
• Tracey Van Dillen (Products Liability associate; Florham Park) joined Johnson & Johnson as Senior Counsel in January 2018.
• Joe Doherty (Insurance associate; Philadelphia) joined Self Storage Association in January 2018 as SVP, Legal & Legislative Counsel. The role is a combination of legal and lobbying work.
• On January 26, 2018, Dr. Tekisha Everette (Government and Regulatory Affairs Sr. Government Relations Manager; D.C.) received the Families USA Health Equity Consumer Health Advocate of the Year Award in honor of her exceptional advocacy and commitment to eliminating racial and ethnic health disparities and achieving health equity for all. Tekisha currently serves as Executive Director at Health Equity Solutions in Hartford, Connecticut.
• Mike Miner (Litigation partner, D.C.) was named Associate General Counsel, Investigations at Weatherford in early 2018.
• Hilary Hansen (Government and Regulatory Affairs Sr. Government Relations Manager; D.C.) became Executive Director, Advocacy and Strategic Alliances at Merck in January 2018.
• Luna Samman (Intellectual Property associate; D.C.) was named a partner at her firm, Arent Fox, in January 2018 and also welcomed a baby boy, Henry, in late 2017. Henry joins his two-year-old brother, Ralph.
• Sally White (Products Liability associate; San Francisco) was named a partner at her firm, Jeffers, Danielson, Sonn & Aylward, P.S. She also welcomed a baby boy to her family.  
• Mark Friesz (Products Liability associate; Florham Park) was named partner at his firm, Darger Errante Yavitz & Blau LLP in early 2018.
• Karen Sullivan (Litigation associate; Wilmington) became City Solicitor at New Castle County, Delaware, in 2018.
• Leslie Bohner (Private Client associate; Philadelphia) became Executive Vice President, Chief Fiduciary Officer and General Counsel at Pennsylvania Trust in January 2018.
• Juli Peck (Litigation associate; Philadelphia) and Michael Homans (Labor and Employment associate; Philadelphia) joined forces to open their own firm, HomansPeck LLC in January 2018.
• Lindsay Orr joined Pepco Holdings, an Exelon Company, as Assistant General Counsel in January 2018.
• Robert Cimo (Health Care associate; Chicago) became VP & General Counsel at Victra in January 2018.
• Rob Guenther (Health Care associate; Chicago) joined Oak Street Health in Chicago as Chief Legal Officer in January 2018.
• James Long (Products Liability associate; Florham Park) became a partner at McGivney, Kluger & Cook in January 2018. 
• Emily Klinicki (Corporate associate: Philadelphia) gave birth to a baby girl in December 2017. Her big brother couldn’t wait to meet her.
• Kellie MacGready Garson (Insurance associate; Philadelphia) joined Highmark Health in Wilmington, Delaware, as counsel in December 2017.
• Maureen Testoni (Health Care associate; D.C.) partnered with her husband, Mike Flanagan, to form the law firm of Flanagan Testoni in December 2017. 
• Jim Beyer (Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation counsel; Chicago) joined Infosys as Assistant General Counsel, Associate Vice President and Global Head of Employment Law in December 2017.
• Brian Astrup (Litigation associate; Philadelphia) joined Klein Moynihan Turco LLP as an associate in December 2017.
• Patrick Thompson (Litigation associate; D.C.) joined Becker, Kellogg & Berry, P.C. as an associate in December 2017.
• Pirya Harjani (Litigation associate; Chicago) was featured in an article titled “A Higher Calling – Passionate Litigator Channels Her Energy into Academia” in the Fall 2017 edition of Diversity & the Bar Magazine. Priya is Deputy General Counsel at Northwestern University.
• Justin Linder (Litigation associate; Florham Park) joined Dughi, Hewit and Domalewski P.C. as of counsel in late 2017.
• Susan Lester (Intellectual Property associate; Chicago) welcomed a baby girl to the world in late 2017. Susan is counsel - Marketing and Intellectual Property at McDonalds.
• Andrew Campanelli (Insurance associate; Philadelphia) joined Insight Homes in Delaware as General Counsel in late 2017.
• Jeffrey Denman (Corporate and Securities associate; Washington, D.C.) joined Markwith Law as partner in late 2017.
• Mark Boyland (associate; Florham Park) joined Tata Beverage as Assistant General Counsel and Head of Anti-Corruption and Global Compliance in late 2017.
• The private investment company, Longford Capital Management, LP, founded by William Farrell (Litigation partner; Chicago) closed its second private equity fund at $500 million, the largest private equity fund of its kind in North America, in late 2017. Bill is also managing director and general counsel of the organization.
• Amy Liesenfeld Blumenthal (Labor and Employment associate; Philadelphia) welcomed a baby boy, Henry, on August 17, 2017. Henry joined older brother Joseph (age three).
• After serving as the Vice Chair and a managing partner at the Washington, D.C. office of Gardner Carton & Douglas, and later General Counsel of various public companies (including Charter Communications/Spectrum), Grier Raclin (partner; D.C.) joined with a couple of partners and Seaport Capital of New York to buy and consolidate some small cable broadband systems. They purchased a fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) system in Peoria, Illinois, in 2016, a FTTH system in Champaign/Urbana, Illinois, in 2017 and most recently closed the acquisition of Full Channel cable, serving the "East Bay" area South Providence, Rhode Island.
• Phillip Abromats (Intellectual Property associate; Berwyn) enjoys taking photographs of the Philadelphia area and maintains a pinterest board where you can find his vintage Philly photos.

Have you recently changed jobs, been promoted or been honored with an award? Maybe you published a book or other work of authorship, got married or had a child or grandchild?

Share your accomplishments and any professional or personal news with your alumni community by emailing Abby.Raanan@faegredrinker.com. Send us your photos too, or tell us about another alumnus who might have an update to share so that we can contact them.